When it comes to the Christmas season I usually succumb to one of my (numerous) weaknesses: Getting soft, sentimental and nostalgic. At times I really get carried away by all that Xmas music around. Not that I like everything. But there is a wide gamut of protuberances of the "Christmas Spirit" that strike chords in me...
A hit song from the 80s with the title Mera Jul has evolved as a major evergreen in Sweden. The lyrics take an ironic angle on everybody who can't get enough. Mera Jul means: More Christmas. And that's how I can feel, I want more Christmas... Well, in a way, that is. I try to keep the hustle and bustle to a managable level. Not an easy task. But anchored in the back of my head is this long-ago feeling of harmonious family celebrations, the serious Christmas cantatas on German Radio my Dad tuned in - and Elvis, Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole doing their Xmas thing on British Forces Radio (that I hunted the airwaves for). I couldn't get enough of it! And this spectrum of sentiments from classical to really swinging suited me perfectly! And it still does today...
Earlier I featured here a really neat little image-show for the Mera Jul evergreen I found on YouTube. But it's not there anymore. But I discovered a recent live version by the original artists, Adolphson & Falk, which I find endearing. They are better today than before, almost in the 'Close Harmony' style, popularized once by the Everly Brothers
A few years ago I did some image shows in my sentimental "Christmas Spirit". In this first one Swedish Musical artist Peter Jöback renders a Swedish version of Leonard Cohen's Halleluja, still widely popular in this country. The text strays quite a bit from the original and the song got a new title: Decembernatt (Decembernight).
The second show features images from a stroll through the Änggården district in Gothenburg just before Christmas, set to the popular nordic tune "Julen är här", sung by Tommy Körberg (Sweden) and Sissel Kyrkjebø (Norway).
A partial breakdown of my little Lumix LX3 camera in the fall led to a nice solution: I was eying the current model, the LX7, and discovered to my delight that it was fitted with a real fast Leica lens (f 1.4 as largest aperture). Remarkably, the lens keeps much of its speed even at maximum zoom (3.8 X) That makes the camera really useful in bad light conditions, e.g. in in rapidly darkening winter afternoons...
Well, already in November I fixed this little marvel of a camera as an early Christmas present to myself, using it quite a bit. Naturally, I gift-wrapped it in due course and put it under the Tannenbaum, gladly opening the package at Christmas Eve. Today, Boxing Day, I enjoyed the cameras performance very much since daylight was already fading as I left home. Even though overcast, it was really calm and no rain at Askim Bay...
">
A hit song from the 80s with the title Mera Jul has evolved as a major evergreen in Sweden. The lyrics take an ironic angle on everybody who can't get enough. Mera Jul means: More Christmas. And that's how I can feel, I want more Christmas... Well, in a way, that is. I try to keep the hustle and bustle to a managable level. Not an easy task. But anchored in the back of my head is this long-ago feeling of harmonious family celebrations, the serious Christmas cantatas on German Radio my Dad tuned in - and Elvis, Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole doing their Xmas thing on British Forces Radio (that I hunted the airwaves for). I couldn't get enough of it! And this spectrum of sentiments from classical to really swinging suited me perfectly! And it still does today...
Earlier I featured here a really neat little image-show for the Mera Jul evergreen I found on YouTube. But it's not there anymore. But I discovered a recent live version by the original artists, Adolphson & Falk, which I find endearing. They are better today than before, almost in the 'Close Harmony' style, popularized once by the Everly Brothers
A few years ago I did some image shows in my sentimental "Christmas Spirit". In this first one Swedish Musical artist Peter Jöback renders a Swedish version of Leonard Cohen's Halleluja, still widely popular in this country. The text strays quite a bit from the original and the song got a new title: Decembernatt (Decembernight).
The second show features images from a stroll through the Änggården district in Gothenburg just before Christmas, set to the popular nordic tune "Julen är här", sung by Tommy Körberg (Sweden) and Sissel Kyrkjebø (Norway).
Taking A Walk
During the Xmas holidays getting up late is the norm... Daylight hours are scarce in Sweden this time of the year. This gives you some problems if you want to go for a walk with the idea of taking some pictures along the way.A partial breakdown of my little Lumix LX3 camera in the fall led to a nice solution: I was eying the current model, the LX7, and discovered to my delight that it was fitted with a real fast Leica lens (f 1.4 as largest aperture). Remarkably, the lens keeps much of its speed even at maximum zoom (3.8 X) That makes the camera really useful in bad light conditions, e.g. in in rapidly darkening winter afternoons...
Well, already in November I fixed this little marvel of a camera as an early Christmas present to myself, using it quite a bit. Naturally, I gift-wrapped it in due course and put it under the Tannenbaum, gladly opening the package at Christmas Eve. Today, Boxing Day, I enjoyed the cameras performance very much since daylight was already fading as I left home. Even though overcast, it was really calm and no rain at Askim Bay...
It was 40 years ago today...
It was in 1973 that I got my first Single Lens Reflex camera as a christmas present!
It was a Minolta SLT 100. This was a slightly downscaled version of the
popular SLT 101, but the difference was almost negligible. It served me well until 1980, when I left it in a Danish train. My research with
the Lost and Found department instilled great hope initially, since an SLT 100 had recently been turned in. Alas, it had a different serial number...
It
was a sad loss. Not so much because of the monetary value, but for
nostalgic reasons. I meant to enshrine it eventually behind thick safety
glass and a little golden sign: "My First Camera"...
Well,
I replaced it with the rather similar SLT 201, used, but in excellent
condition. This one I still have and it is fully functional. But this is
just academic since there just isn't much practical use for it.
On a sobering note:
Presidents, Kings and Queens around the world deliver their Xmas or New Year greetings to the public. More food for serious thought offers this message. Hope we're not running out of time over this issue...">
No comments:
Post a Comment